The Diary of a Nobody

Written by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith

Narrated by Martin Jarvis

This delightful Victorian comic diary is a classic of English Humour which has never been out of print since its first publication in 1892. City clerk Charles Pooter asks: ‘Why should I not publish my diary… because I do not happen to be a “somebody”?’ He proceeds to catalogue all the social clangers he makes unwittingly as he bumbles his way through life, yet a sympathy develops for Pooter in the face of it all. The Diary of a Nobody is an ideal text for the talents of Martin Jarvis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Mar 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9789629545369

George Grossmith

George Grossmith (1847-1912) was born in London. As a young adult George joined his father as a performer on the stage, a career which spanned four decades, during which time he wrote successful comic operas, musical sketches and innumerable songs. In 1892 he collaborated with his brother Weedon, publishing The Diary of a Nobody from a series of humorous columns they’d previously written for Punch magazine. It has been in print ever since.

Reviews for The Diary of a Nobody

[malteser1-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book - it's the second time I've read it and I enjoyed it this time just as much as the first. Charles Pooter, an ordinary little man, albeit rather pompous and self opinionated, decides to keep a diary to record the daily events of his life. Through this diary we learn so much about him as he records his hopes and aspirations, together with the many mishaps which befall him. He constantly reminded me of Captain Mainwaing of Dad's Army fame. The story is full of gentle humour and you have to warm to Charles as he struggles to achieve a higher place in society and cope with his errant son Lupin.This book was first published over 100 years ago and I think it's a little classic. Consisting of only about 150 pages, it's an easy, enjoyable read and I'd recommend it to anyone.

[bennyb_29 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable read. Plenty of comedy and I also liked the punch style cartoons and the Victorian photographs. A nice light read.

[wendyrey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the funniest books I have ever read. Mr Pooter is a scatterbrained charmer who does the daftest things for apparently sensible reasons.Among other idiocies he paints his bath red with what turns out to be paint not suitable for metal and ends up covered with paint himself.Endearing and hilariously funny

[enidav-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my comfort books. Read it a million times and it still makes me smile.

[rlangston-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick but enjoyable read. Very dry humour.

[herschelian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the all time great funny books. I particularly love this as we live in Upper Holloway just up the road from Pooterland. I particularly love hearing this read aloud. Brilliant.

[big_bang_gorilla · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being the quotidian reflections of humble civil servant Charles Pooter, who at night poured out his hilariously deadpan reflections on his mundane life and work to his journal. This is the funniest book ever written.

[Liam Devine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully read by Martin Jarvis. Very funny indeed. There is perhaps no greater sentence in the whole of English literature than, “I left the room with silent dignity but caught my foot on the mat”. Hahahaha!

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

English comic novel set in 1890's is a novel of Charles Pooter, a clerk. Through its humor the reader gets a picture of 1890 and what it is to be neither upper social or lower social class. Remarkably, could fit yet today.

[stevejwales · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The diary of suburban "nobody" Charles Pooter who, while being the target for a (gentle) satire of the Victorian middle class, is quite endearing in his complete lack of self-awareness and his unfailing belief in the power of terrible puns to amuse anyone... Instantly recognisable characters and situations and just as funny over a century after it was published.

[madeehaness · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A pleasantly amusing read. Although, if I ever feel the urge to read about awkward misunderstandings, clumsy accidents, embarrassing situations and the not-remarkably-funny jokes, of an unconsciously snobbish, inarticulate, fairly ridiculous, self important nobody in a middle class household I can always flip through my own diary.

Which, quite naturally, leads me to wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Pooter, "Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see--because I do not happen to be a 'Somebody'--why my diary should not be interesting."
So,
Coming soon to a bookshop near you: The Diary of a Yet Another Nobody

[vivl_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't think I was supposed to like Mr Pooter but I felt great sympathy for a simple and conventional man and felt him unfairly picked on.

[davidgnp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charles Pooter slips fully-formed into these pages and delights us with his naive observations on his own humdrum domestic life in Victorian England. Among the great skills of the brothers Grossmith who created this classic character are their ability to make Pooter's low-reaching snobbery endearing, the clarity of caricature that allows us to see the real world behind cast in an absurd light, and a quality of humour that wraps us in like welcome guests at a modest but convivial party.

[pondlife_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An amusing book, but not laugh-out-loud funny. Mr Pooter is snobby, petty and weak, but he comes across as a basically good person.Apart from the comedy aspect, there are some interesting insights into victorian life.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Some people seem quite destitute a sense of Humour."The Diary of a Nobody was originally intended as a spoof against all the diaries that were being published and serialised at the time of writing yet today in the age of Blogs, Facebook and Twitter, where celebrity status can be gained seemingly without an awful lot of talent, it seems even more relevant. The book centres around Charlie Pooter (the Nobody), his wife Carrie and their son Lupin. Charlie Pooter is a City clerk who lives with his wife in Holloway. Their son Willie initially works for a bank in Oldham but early in the diary returns home after being dismissed announcing that he wants to be known by his middle name Lupin henceforth. Lupin is a chancer and everything that his father isn't. Mr Pooter has a strong sense of his own worth yet every-time he finds himself in a position that might work to his advantage some social gaffe means he misses out on the opportunity. The Pooters’ life is therefore made up of small pleasures and modest social occasions, many of which end embarrassingly and usually also involve his close friends Mr Gowings and Mr Cummings. Yet despite it all he ultimately triumphs.Sadly the world of Charles Pooter, a world of simple pleasures and of lifelong loyalty to one employer, has long disappeared yet there will probably be opportunities for people like Lupin. Yet it could be argued that the literary influence of this book, (Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones for example) can still be seen today. In fact many of the embarrassing misunderstandings that afflict Mr Pooter are directly reflected in these much later characters and afore mentioned Bloggers etc. When Mr Pooter tells Carrie and Lupin that, “I was in hopes that, if anything ever happened to me, the diary would be an endless source of pleasure to you both; to say nothing of the chance of the remuneration which may accrue from its being published”, both “burst out laughing”. But by way of an apology Carrie states; "I did not mean to be rude, dear Charlie; but truly I do not think your diary would sufficiently interest the public to be taken up by a publisher."There is a brief preview before each chapter which gives a tantalising outline of what is to follow without giving away too much detail. This is not a book that will make you laugh out loud, rather it has a gentle absurdity about it. I ended up feeling a great empathy for staid old Charlie hoping that his loyalty and sense of duty would ultimately prevail, as such I felt that the author's writing style set exactly the right tone. It is a book that has withstood the test of time, one that you read with a smile on your face and as such it deserves to be regarded as a classic.

[shabacus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I was a kid, I didn't get most of the references in Bugs Bunny cartoons. I watched and loved them, but much of the pop culture references of the 30s, 40s, and 50s went right over my head. At least, they did at first. Turns out, I had begun to pick up on those references just by watching, and eventually they became funny for me.The humor in The Diary of a Nobody is a lot like that for me. I'm pretty good at picking out the lines that are supposed to be humorous, and when they're not, I start to look for what I might be missing.The result is a very educational experience. I learned a lot about middle class English life in the 1890s. What struck me most of all was how similar, in many ways, it was to today.A short read, and recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about a culture not so far removed from our own.

[clurb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was OK. I wasn't laughing myself silly, but the humour is still there and everyone likes a good bit of mockery of the lower middle class.

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is as the title claims; a diary of events that could have happened to any random someone in the late 1800s. There is nothing hefty here, there is no real serious issue, just the life of a man who is part of a family, who have friends and meet people. It sounds completely uninteresting, but it's a classic and the comedy is a real joy to experience, as is the history itself. If you ever wanted to feel as if you were in a family from history, you should think about picking this one up.

[sadiebabie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was a fairly quick read. It was funny too, I'll admit that. Not laugh out loud funny, but kind of sitcom-like, if it were a sitcom based in 1892! In fact, the date thing is funny, as what struck me most was that even though the book is 114 years old, it still feels...well, not modern, but not as dated as you'd expect. It was a pleasant enough read. Not really my thing, but it was interesting to read outside of my comfort zone.

[alexrichman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

He may be a nobody but it's hard not to fall for this utterly sweet, well-meaning but clumsy diarist. There's not much heft, but a lot of heart.

[emanate28 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lightly entertaining and funny while it lasted, but I found it quite unmemorable. It ended suddenly and without any real developments, which was too bad, as it seemed to be going somewhere.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Comedy of manners with a bumbling protagonist, Charles Pooter. Funny if you like that sort of thing, which I guess I don't all that much. I smiled a few times, laughed once or twice. Recommended for: fans of Jeeves, British comedies, class-based satires.

[edmundirons · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gentle humour. Fairly short; can be read in an evening.

[condorena · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The wit and humor in this novel stands the test time.

[petulant_seraph · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

a very enjoyable and easy read, great when you can only spare a few minutes with a book and want to be amused

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm sorry. This is supposed to be one of the funniest of books - according to the English. Huh? It is only mildly amusing. When you finish it, you'll ask, "So what?"

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Diary of a Nobody written by George Grossmith and illustrated by his brother Weedon Grossmith is an English comic novel that was first published as a serial in Punch magazine in 1888-89 and then presented in book form in 1892. The book is written as the diary that records the daily lives of a London clerk, Charles Pooter, his wife Carrie, his son Lupin and many of his friends and acquaintances over a 15 month period has become a true classic and is still in print today.Much of the humor in this book is developed from the Pooter’s attempt to rise above their middle class life and the social humiliations that this resulted in. Charles Pooter’s pretensions and petty concerns become a wry satire on middle class aspirations that often sees the reader chuckling and wincing at the same time.The Diary of a Nobody is a quick and amusing read that is quaint and funny yet also gives us a glimpse into the past and a way of life that has for the most part disappeared. Even though the book is more than a century old, many will recognize the timeless character of Pooter from their own social circle or even from gazing into the mirror.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Met a Mr. McCarvill. Did not care for him."This is cute stuff. The mighty, noble venality of the petty bourgeois. Yer modern equivalent might be a "Home Improvement" that gets that that Tim Allen dude is fucking terrible, but finds some affection anyway because it's the terrible old regular people that keep things going.

[sanddune_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The diary of Charles Pooter, a clerk in the City of London at the end of the nineteenth century, who doesn't see why he shouldn't have just as much right to publish his diary as the next man. As the epigraph says:Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even herd of, and I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a 'Somebody' - why my diary should not be interesting. My only regret is that I did not commence it when I was a youth'So in this gentle comedy we are introduced to Pooter's wife Carrie, his friends Cummings and Gowing, and above all to his only son Lupin, whose relationship to his father proves without a doubt that the generation gap was not invented in the 1960s! For while Pooter is respectable, conservative and intensely loyal to the firm for which he has worked for over 20 years, Lupin is prone to losing his job, getting home in the early hours of the morning, getting up at lunchtime and is a mystery and a worry to his father. But above all the book pokes fun (in a gentle way) at Mr Pooter's constant attempts to maintain his status as a lower-middle class gentleman in his residence at Brickfields Terrace, constantly thwarted by dealings with prosperous tradesmen who think themselves every bit as good as he is.This isn't laugh out loud funny, but it is a gentle humour which has stood the test of time.

[michael5rimmer · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have shelved this book as "humour" in deference to what it says on the back-cover blurb, but, despite being patriotically partial to the English style of gentle, parochial fun-poking, this just didn't quite hit the spot.

It's certainly interesting enough to finish and has some amusing moments to enjoy, but I didn't take to Mr Pooter and his circle in the way I expected. I was (foolishly, I suppose) hoping for another Mr Pickwick and his club, but the Grossmiths are not Dickens, but then, who is?

I will, I think, give it another try in a few years in order to see whether time has added to its charm, but for now I shall shelve it with mild disappointment.